DJ Envy of “The Breakfast Club” caught some heat a few weeks back after the shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant on April 20, 2021, in Columbus, Ohio. During an interview with Pan Africanist Umar Johnson, DJ Envy said he thought police Officer Nicholas Reardon reacted within reason when he pulled up to the scene and watched Bryant wield a knife at another woman during an altercation before shooting her as she appeared to be trying to stab someone.
The radio host refused to put every police officer in the same light as former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering George Floyd. Johnson, like many others, argued that many White victims have been seen holding knives and guns and that shooting them wasn’t the first response by police. Johnson even mentioned how high school resource officers have taken knives away from students in fights without anyone being killed.
“I’m not gonna lie, I must be a coon ’cause I don’t agree with you on this. Every case is different, and in this case, if I pull up to a scene and see a girl chasing another girl [and] about to stab a girl, my job as a police officer is to make sure that girl doesn’t get killed,” Envy told Johnson on his show. “And the law allows me to stop that killing or that stabbing by any means necessary. That’s what the law allows me to do, on both sides.”
DJ Envy, whose real name is RaaShaun Casey, is the son of a retired police officer. He explained that officers have a split second to react in some instances and that Reardon possibly saved someone’s life. Envy faced criticism, with some calling for him to be cancelled because of his views. He spoke to Page Six about his stance.
“I understand people are upset and they have the right to be, but what I don’t like is this cancel culture, when they try to cancel somebody for an opinion,” he said. “The whole situation is tragic, and it’s sad because that system failed that young lady. The fact that she’s out there fighting at 16 with a grown woman, the fact that the older man seen in the video would rather kick the girl on the ground and join the fight instead of stopping the fight — all these things come together, and the system failed that girl and it is sad.”
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